Medics Triage Patients inside Crashed Bus

4.30.09

The response to a bus that crashed on the interstate while on its way from New York City to Boston was exceptionally quick because the incident happened less than a mile away from the Auburn (Mass.) Fire Department (AFD) fire station. AFD Deputy Fire Chief Stephen Coleman, who served as the MCI chief for the incident, said the call came in as a bus crash. When AFD paramedics arrived, the driver was exiting the bus through a window.

“We were there so quickly that the people weren’t even out of the bus yet,Ó Coleman said, adding that medics went into the bus and assessed patients inside. “If we were there a couple of minutes later, it would’ve been a little harder to triage.”

All 54 passengers were tagged. Of those, 34 were transported to UMass Medical Center. “”We were fortunate for some extent that we were able to triage them inside the bus,” Coleman said.”They were able to walk right out of the windows of the bus and walk right to the triage area.” One patient was a Priority 1, one a Priority 2 and the rest Priority 3. AFD was the first responding and primary EMS agency. It provided one of the 16 transporting ambulances. Oxford Fire Department EMS assisted. UMass Memorial EMS, American Medical Response and Eascare Ambulance Service provided mutual aid. The Auburn Fire Department and Massachusetts State Police also assisted.

The passengers who weren’t transported were taken on a school bus to a school, where they waited for another bus to come and take them to their final destination.

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